The Friday Five: Remember These?

For some odd reason, the song "Fall at Your Feet" by Crowded House popped into my head this morning, and it conjured up the memory of my late friend J. (we both had mad crushes on Neil Finn), and how she'd commented that it was the B-side of "Tall Trees." She knew that because she had ordered the cassingle with a handful of cereal boxtops. Anybody remember cassingles? I had quite a few. Still have a few, somewhere around here--I didn't get a CD player until I graduated from high school.

That served as the inspiration for this week's Friday Five. I sometimes roll my eyes at the nostalgia for the '80s, because it tends to be focused on the early '80s. Where's the love for the late '80s/early '90s? Well, anyway, regardless of where in time these fall, here are five random things that, in addition to cassingles, brought me joy in my earlier days:

1. Slap bracelets. O.K., the one I liked really belonged to Younger Sister. It was orange and had smiley faces on it. Oh yeah, the best thing was that it made a thoroughly satisfying slapping sound.2. Hot Looks dolls. Taller, soft-sculpture versions of Barbie, with wire armatures. Younger Sister and I stored their clothes (which were super-trendy and impossible for anyone but dolls to get away with wearing) in a plastic grocery bag, and whenever we sat on the floor of the "Backroom" (TV room/addition) to play, my sister's cat would burrow into the bag and fall asleep on the clothes. We have a picture of the cat wearing a bright pink beret (see what I mean about trendy?).3. Flannel shirts and construction boots. (I know what you are thinking, and you are right.) Freshman year of college, I found a pair of low-cut boys' construction boots at Payless. I wore them with green lacy shoelaces. When the laces wore out, I found purple lacy laces to sub in. I wore my hair shorter back then, and at one point a classmate said that looks-wise the celebrity I resembled most was Isabella Rossellini. I was the grunge version of Isabella Rossellini. Hopelessly feminine, that's me.4. Sugar Smacks and Super Sugar Crisp. Heck, any cereal with the word "sugar" in it. Don't see that anymore. And don't try to tell me it's honey, Honey. Once a year, my sibs and I got little boxes of sugary cereal in our Christmas stockings, and it was heavenly. And agonizing. On the one hand, you wanted to gobble them up, but on the other hand, you wanted to savor them for as long as possible before it was time to go back to Corn Chex.5. My Casio keyboard. Around fifth grade or so, my friend got one, and we had so much fun sampling stuff that I asked for one for my birthday. It also was a nice break from being shooed away from noodling on the piano while people were watching TV or talking on the phone.Have a great weekend, everyone.